Like all other industries, the realm of Sports industry has been disrupted by the advanced industrial inventions. The industry has adapted all the technical marvels such as AR, VR, MR, and many more to touch the newer height of modernity and advancement.
POD Active is an innovative Australian product development company that specializes in joint protection for elite athletes and active humans. Based out of Geelong, Australia, POD Active offers patented products integrating seamlessly with modern sports equipment which effortlessly enables natural motion and actively resists unnatural motion. It is their mission to reduce the risk and severity of ligament injuries in sport without restricting performance or compromising comfort.
Founded in 2007 in the Victorian Surf Coast Town of Torquay, Australia, POD Active was the vision of polymer and composite materials specialist, Geoffrey Maloney. Sport needed a lighter weight, adaptive knee brace that provided natural human motion and close contact to the bike. Working with contracted engineers, universities, professional athletes and physicians, Geoff and his team spent 2 years for refining and patenting the POD Knee Brace. Here’s an interview with POD Active:
With regards to your organization’s profound industry experience, how do you think the sports-tech market has evolved and what can be expected in the forthcoming years?
Injury prevention, management and treatment have moved away from traditional mechanical and metal rehabilitation braces to lighter stronger composite and synthetic materials. Drawing on our experience and understanding of the shape and movement of the body, POD is working with leading universities, brands, athletes, coaches, trainers and medical professionals to create and refine a platform of joint protection products around natural human motion.
What are the benefits gained by your clients/users from your products/solutions/services?
Sport needed a lighter weight, adaptive knee brace. Inspired by the human body our innovative braces use the power of synthetic ligaments, engineered from Vectran Fibres (5 x stronger than steel) to provide progressive, multidirectional motion control. POD braces deliver new levels of comfort, performance and reliability, allowing athletes to recover fast and recreate longer.
Give us a brief overview about the featured person(s) and their contribution towards the company and its success.
Brett Nicholas, the CEO has implemented more strategic planning and processes at POD, creating a 5yr business plan that aligned the team’s vision and efforts. Additionally, his action sports knowledge and network expanded POD’s distribution and reach.
Considering the necessity of adapting to the volatile technological disruptions and/or development of cutting-edge solutions, how does your company sustain its competency in the Sports-tech market?
We stay very close to our end consumers, to truly understand their pain points and needs, while partnering with the leading composite & materials specialists around the world. We adopt the ‘Fast Fail’ principle, so don’t waste time and resources on a theory, prototype or product that isn’t working. This allows us to pivot fast and stay ahead of our competition – typically larger public medical corporations.
What obstacles and/or limitation does your organization face while growing, sustaining or retaining its clientele?
Price. Consumers are reluctant to spend the necessary money on the appropriate product to prevent injury or to best treat and manage ligament injuries, opting for lesser quality compression sleeves and cheap braces readily available within pharmacies and chemists.
Could you list out the most growth-deteriorating challenges for your organization till date?
Penetrating to the Medical Channel; we have extensive global distribution within Action Sports retail channels, though there’s significant opportunity for POD to introduce and integrate our patents and technology in to the medical channel. This channel requires us to partner with one of a few multinational Medical Distributors.
What does the future hold for your organization in terms of internal as well as holistic development?
We’re about to disrupt the ankle brace market by partnering with one of the world’s leading sports medicine companies to distribute our innovative new ankle support. This new brace is complimentary to tape and will displace lace up bracing. It’s now patented globally and is FDA Approved and PDAC L Coded for USA Insurance reimbursement. Q: Combined with a broader suite of new Knee brace solutions, we hope to help Osteo Arthritis sufferers with a better quality of life.